Rodger Miles Davis (born 18 May 1951) is an Australian
professional golfer
A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...
.
Career
Davis was born in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. He turned professional in 1974 and spent his regular career playing mainly on the
PGA Tour of Australasia
The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...
and the
European Tour
The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...
. He won the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit in 1990 and 1991. He made the top ten of the European Tour Order of Merit four times in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His seven European Tour wins included two of Europe's most prestigious tournaments; the
British PGA Championship
The BMW PGA Championship is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour. It was founded in 1955 by the Professional Golfers' Association, and originally called the British PGA Championship.
History
The BMW PGA Championship ...
, which he won in 1986 at Wentworth Club, and the season ending
Volvo Masters
The Volvo Masters was the concluding official money event of the European Tour season until 2009, when it was replaced by the Dubai World Championship. The event was founded in 1988 and held at Valderrama Golf Club in Andalusia, Spain, except for ...
, which he claimed in 1991. His best finish on the
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...
was a tie for fifth at the 1986
NEC World Series of Golf
The World Series of Golf was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. From its inception in 1962 through 1975, it was an unofficial 36-hole event matching the winners of the four major champi ...
.
Davis was ranked in the top 10 of the
Official World Golf Ranking
The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986.
The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...
for 29 weeks between 1987 and 1992.
69 Players Who Have Reached The Top-10 In World Ranking
/ref> In the 1987 Open Championship
The 1987 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 116th Open Championship, held from 16–19 July at Muirfield Golf Links in Gullane, Scotland. Nick Faldo won the first of his three Open Championships, one stroke ahead of ...
, Davis shot a first round of 64 at Muirfield to lead the tournament by three strokes after the opening round. He finished the championship in a tie for 2nd place with American Paul Azinger
Paul William Azinger (born January 6, 1960) is an American professional golfer and TV golf He won twelve times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1993 PGA Championship. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official ...
, a stroke behind the champion Nick Faldo
Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, (born 18 July 1957) is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator. A top player of his era, renowned for his dedication to the game, he was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for ...
. The 1987 Open Championship is Davis's best finish in a major championship.
Davis represented Australia in team competitions several times, and was a member of his country's winning three-man team at the 1986 Alfred Dunhill Cup
The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...
.
As a senior, he played mainly on the U.S.-based Champions Tour
PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour.
History and format
The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many years ...
(2001–05), where he won once, the 2003 Toshiba Senior Classic. He played on the European Seniors Tour
The Legends Tour is the current branding of the European Senior Tour, a professional tour for male golfers aged 50 and over, run by the PGA European Tour. The tour was branded as the Staysure Tour for the 2018 and 2019 seasons after UK-based insur ...
in 2011 and 2012.
Amateur wins
''this list may be incomplete''
*1973 Lake Macquarie Amateur
The Lake Macquarie Amateur was an amateur golf tournament in Australia. It was first played in 1958 and was organised by and played at the Belmont Golf Club in nearby Marks Point, New South Wales. It was a 72-hole stroke play tournament (54 hole ...
Professional wins (30)
European Tour wins (7)
European Tour playoff record (3–2)
PGA Tour of Australasia wins (14)
PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (3–1)
Other Australasian wins (5)
*1977 Rosebud Invitational
*1978 South Australia Open, Nedlands Masters
The Nedlands Masters was a professional golf tournament in Australia, held at the Nedlands Golf Club in Nedlands, Perth, Western Australia. It was first played in 1947, again in 1950, and then annually from 1962. Like the Masters Tournament, the w ...
, West Australia Open, Mandurah Open
Other wins (1)
*1998 Mauritius Open
The Mauritius Open was a golf tournament played on the island of Mauritius from 1994 through 2008. In 2009 the tournament was superseded by a new European Seniors Tour
The Legends Tour is the current branding of the European Senior Tour, a profe ...
Champions Tour wins (1)
Other senior wins (2)
*2009 Handa Australian Senior Open
*2015 Australian PGA Seniors Championship
The Australian PGA Seniors Championship is a golf tournament in Australia.
History
The inaugural tournament was held in 1986. Legendary golfer Peter Thomson referred to the tournament as "a breakthrough" for Australian senior golf. The 1986 an ...
Results in major championships
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Summary
*Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (1977 Open Championship – 1981 Open Championship)
*Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)
Team appearances
*World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
(representing Australia): 1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
, 1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
, 1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
, 1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
*Dunhill Cup
The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...
(representing Australia): 1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal ente ...
(winners), 1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
, 1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
, 1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
, 1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
, 1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
*Four Tours World Championship
The Four Tours World Championship was an annual professional golf tournament that was played from 1985 to 1991. It was played between teams representing the four main professional tours: the American PGA Tour, the PGA European Tour, the PGA Tour of ...
(representing Australasia): 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990 (winners), 1991
*UBS Cup The UBS Cup was a team golf tournament contested by the United States and a team representing the "Rest of the World" which ran from 2001 to 2004. In 2001 and 2002 it was called the UBS Warburg Cup. Six golfers on each side had to be 50 or over, and ...
(representing the Rest of the World): 2002, 2003 (tie), 2004
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Rodger
Australian male golfers
PGA Tour of Australasia golfers
European Tour golfers
PGA Tour Champions golfers
European Senior Tour golfers
Golfers from Sydney
1951 births
Living people